Crossroads
by Yuki Suou
Summary: "Even the smallest person can change the course of the future." Happens only to heroes, right? Or, where a single birth derailed canon, irrevocably and irreparably. Not that she realized it until it was too late. She never cared for destinies anyway. Rebirth!OC.
1. Prologue

Prologue

The cover of the diary was a riot of colours. One would be able to find any colour on the little diary which fit snugly in a palm, if it existed in the colour spectrum. The small sequins that decorated the diary and the big sticker of a cartoon character sitting right in the middle made it impossible to not guess the age and if, a person was to exercise stereotypy, the gender of the owner of the diary. They wouldn't be wrong if they said it belonged to a little girl. A little toddler who was just starting to cross into the preschool age.

Entry 1:

 _It depicted a stick figure depiction of a father and a daughter (the owner herself, as was pointed out by an arrow and messy writing), holding a cone of ice-cream. The words "happy" and "yummy" could be deciphered if one looked closely enough._

Entry 3:

 _This one also contained the picture of the above-mentioned duo, this time surrounded by trees (identified by green spirals over brown sticks). It also contained a swing. The smaller stick figure was seated on it, the taller one behind it. "PARK" was written in block letters._

Entry 9:

 _Same characters again with the addition of three more (one of them her size), this time the setting seemed to be inside a house. The father-daughter pair stood in front of a two-tiered cake with five bold candles over it. Lots of streamers and balloons could be seen, making it the most colourful picture till now. "Happy Birthday" was written with various colours for each letter and in shaky hands, but steadier than the previous entries._

Entry 15:

 _This one depicts a black dog, the only one with the picture of a pet, playing chase with the smaller_ _stick figure. The taller one is absent and the word "BLACKIE" was scrawled in big letters._

Entry 20:

 _Home again, but this time they seem to be having a relaxing evening (as indicated by the stars and_ _darker background), with cakes and books. The large smile on their face stood out the most._

Entry 21:

 _Large buildings, skyscrapers and cars were the topic of this one, with "My Dream" scrawled in neater_ _manner. The vehicles were notably different from the ones she had ever seen._

Entry 29:

 _Faces different than drawn previously shows up, with the caption of "Dream people"._

Entry 36:

 _Shows a person lying down, with a remarkable amount of red pouring around it._

That seemed to be the last entry, but if one checked closely enough, they would be able to see remnants of torn pages. Looking more carefully, the imprint of the words _This is stupid_ might be visible.

One wouldn't be wrong if they said that the diary belonged to a small kid.

 _But they wouldn't be completely right, either._

* * *

 **Unbetaed: 16/03/18**


	2. Panic

**20/03/2018:** ** _MY OLD READERS, PLEASE READ BOTH THE FIRST AND SECOND CHAPTERS._** I changed them.

Chapter 1: Panic

Alert.

Conscious.

Cooperative.

Disoriented.

The words floated in her mind, unprompted, as she teetered on the brink of consciousness. Sinking further into the soft mattress, she tried to remember whether she had any exams that day, whether she would need to steel herself for the utter humiliation that their professor liked to call "grand viva" or whether she would get chewed for something she was _supposed_ to know without being taught. It took a moment to recall that she was doing her internship, and that meant-

Well, let's just say that those poor saps didn't have much of a life.

Groaning, she turned to her left to grab the small pillow she liked to cuddle with (sue her), only for her hands to meet air. Frowning, but still not opening her eyes, she reached further, only for her hand to knock into-something- which fell down with a soft clatter.

" _Up already, kiddo?"_

Dread filled her senses as her eyes snapped open at the unknown voice and unfamiliar language.

The first thing she noticed was that it was definitely _not_ her bed and neither was it _her_ room. (Both being a bit smaller and a lot less fancy).

The second thing was that there was a blonde stranger by her bed, sprawled on a huge armchair and grinning at her.

The third straw was the unnatural lack the weight of her of glasses on her face.

What in the name of-

(She couldn't even see words a foot away from her, yet somehow, she was then able to demarcate the intricate designs on the curtains as her head swivelled to the right, taking in the every detail of the strange room.)

"Aki?"

Aki? Aki? That was her name, wasn't it?

 _Then why did it feel so wrong?_

The man repeated her (supposed) name again, concern colouring his tone. Her eyes widened as he tried to reach for her (a foreigner, what on earth was a foreigner- _Papa-_ doing there, where was even **"there** ", what was even going on?). She scrambled away from him, untangling herself from the covers and crashed into the floor.

Thank god for carpeting.

He froze in his attempt to get up from his seat as she scuttled away, as far as she could, keeping the bed between them tilol her back hit the window. Her breathing was growing increasingly ragged, flinching when the intruder ultimately got up. He stopped immediately on seeing her reaction. He put his hands up, palms facing forward in the universal gesture of harmlessness.

" _Aki, it's me- calm down- I won't hurt you."_

She ignored the way his voice trembled minutely at the end his gibberish, the coolness of the glass pan being the only thing that was rooting her.

Air.

She needed air.

Despite all her instincts screaming not to turn her back towards a potential enemy, the feeling of being trapped was more potent- she turned to open the window.

Nothing could have prepared her for the sight behind those panes.

Pure white snow descended from the heavens, the ground already covered, giving the world a serene, white feeling. She had seen snow maybe once in her life, that too, on a trip. Her breath misted over the window and when it cleared, the reflection of a pale haired _child_ stared back at her.

Her mouth opened in a wordless scream as her legs finally gave out. The man moved and caught her before she hit the floor and hurt herself more.

Memories crashed like a waterfall.

 _The car screeching to a halt as claws pierced straight through the windows into their driver's chest, the blond haired man- Papa- throwing himself over her to protect her from the shattered windows, his hands coming up to cover her ears-_

She finally noticed the bandages on her hand, Touching her face, she felt the rough surface if band-aids.

"Aki, it's alright. I'm _here_ with _you."_

 _-the next moment she was pushed down, with the order of staying hidden, before he leapt out of the car, blades sliding down into his palms. He went to fight those_ monsters _with blood dripdripdripping from their claws and teeth-_

Vampires.

Suddenly, she felt cold.

 _-she tried to make herself small- smaller- covering her wars_ (oh god, why was this happening, she had just wanted to eat ice-cream), _as the battle raged on outside, the screams, the squelch, the cracks, the gunshots-_

 _The cloying smell of_ blood.

"Aki, come on, _breathe_. _Focus_ on me."

 _-then it was that vile man, crimson eyes- hands lifting her by the collar- the contents of vial being poured into her mouth forcefully- "It will be over soon, princess"-_

 _-only it sounded so wrong, so unlike when Papa called her that._

She turned, wide-eyed-

-and vomited all over the panicking adult.

 **Author's note:** BTW, the italics during dialogues mean words she didn't understand. I refuse to believe two different worlds will have the same language. An apocalyptic world, 10000 years after modern time , specially. Language changes over mere centuries, and this is millennia we are talking about. So yeah.

So far, this has been my most popular fic comparatively, with **1.1k views, 37 follows, 27 favourites and 11 reviews. It has also been added to a community** woohoo!

Oh would you look at the date! It has been almost 2-3 years since I last posted and I'm truly sorry for that. Med school is in one word: draining. So, my final year results were out and I decided to give this fic another try.

You wouldn't believe the number of times I had changed the intro and this one finally was up to my satisfaction. I have this whole story plotted and if I mysteriously don't die of overwork during internship, I promise to do regular updates.

A big thank you to all those who reviewed, favorited and followed. I would have given up a long ago if not for you guys.

SO, THANK YOU!

OK a question, is 3rd person POV more preferable or 1st person? I'm kind of undecided.

I wouldn't mind more reviews though. :)

Unbetaed: 20/03/2018


	3. Suppress

Chapter 3: Suppress

Aki blinked as water splashed on her face, her eyes focusing on the cream coloured double faceted sink. Staring blankly at the rectangular mirror bathed in a warm, yellow light, she once again felt the floor sway beneath her feet.

Pale eyes and hair clashed with the brown and black in her memories. The man standing beside her with furrowed brows, cleaning her vomit and gently wiping her face with the fluffy towels did not match the severe looking, strict man either. She couldn't identify the smell of the soap, but it definitely wasn't the lavender one she used to love.

But the most jarring part of the whole thing was her size.

She was _tiny._ Little. Small.

Like a . . . like a preschooler small.

Sucking in a shaky breath, she turned with eyes wide to face the man- _Papa,_ her new memories insisted-who had just asked her a question softly, as if not to startle her. She couldn't- _didn't-_ want to understand the words, the language which was not hers, the house which was not hers, the _body_ which didn't belong to her.

Suffice it to say, crying babies were in **no** way adorable.

The soft murmurs of assurance and the gentle motion of her back being rubbed in soothing circles somehow lulled her sobs to sniffles (she was totally blaming her new body for the cry fest, usually she waited till she was alone to let the waterworks to start) and she finally allowed herself to be carried back to the bedroom (another reminder of her alien presence).

As she was placed back on her bed after a change of clothes, she tried to remember the last time she felt so much out of her element.

So utterly **_lost._**

So she decided to deal with it like she had dealt everything else- put everything in a box and push it to the back of her mind and focus on the present.

Not the best coping measure and the ultimate breakdown was going to be spectacular, but she would survive.

Like she always had.

She pushed herself up from her bed when her heart finally stopped acting like it was trying to fly out of her chest and her breathing was finally normalised. She grasped the glass of water, carefully so as not to drop it (her motor skills still needed a lot of work) and gulped it down as she waited for her new guardian to come.

He- _Kaien Cross, his name was Kaien Cross-_ surely enough, arrived as soon as he had changed out of his puke covered clothes. This time, she willingly went to him as he stretched his arms, her new memories surfacing one after another.

 _Playing together in their garden, going for ice-cream downtown, reading together, drawing together and so much more~_

She rested her head on his shoulders as he carried her put of his room and went downstairs, humming a familiarly unfamiliar tune. She looked at him inquisitively and was awarded with a small smile for her efforts.

"We missed your favourite show today, Aki." He said, voice deceptively light. "But, I recorded it!", he said, his smile growing bigger at the thought of his accomplishment.

She wiped off the last vestiges of tears from her eyes and gave him a watery smile. He had been nothing but patient with her and he did not deserve a shitty daughter, that much was clear.

Sniffling, she opened her mouth to speak but what came out was a pathetic croak. Her tongue refused to budge, he throat produced this weird sound and she ended up coughing. She racked her brains for the correct word and then said,

"Water?"

He nodded, smiling brightly as he quickened his pace and almost jumped down the last few stairs. He crossed the room and placed her on her designated chair, helping her till she was comfortable and went to fill her favourite cup. Her supposedly favorite cup.

Gulping down the water greedily, she relished in the feeling of the cool liquid going down her throat, instantly calming her down and rooting her more to the physical world. It was then that her stomach decided to make its almighty presence known.

The man (she was feeling really bad for referring to him like that, after throwing up, then rubbing all her snot and tears on him, but it was still too early for Papa) froze, before going into a frenzy. Within 5 minutes, he had presented a delicious looking, heavenly smelling plate of food in front of her. She stared at it bewildered, and finally registered his words when her brain rebooted.

"Experiment day has been postponed, " he said solemnly.

 _Oh,_ she realized. _He thought she was surprised to see_ edible _food._

She was then reminded of their ritual of assigning a particular day of the week as "Experiment Day", where as the name suggested, they messed around with ingredients and produced a monstrosity(mostly) or a delicacy, depending on their luck. Not that she could do a lot with her little body, except washing vegetables and careful tasting. A part of her had always thought he chose the day on purpose. After all, it couldn't have been a mere coincidence that those days were almost always the ones where his ex-boss came to visit. She shuddered at the reminder of the truly awful concoction of broccoli, celery and mayonnaise that should never have seen the light of the day. Ever.

At least, that god awful fake man had stopped coming to their house after that.

She choked back a sob as she realized that those days were gone and the kind man in front of her wouldn't even realize what he had lost- the precious innocence and wide-eyed wonder of a child could never be truly reproduced.

It was gone- forever.

 _If it was even there in the first place._

When she was ultimately put to bed again, a few rays of sunlight was already visible.

The man- _Papa_ \- had collapsed by the chair by his bed again and gave her a tired grin.

"Sleep, kiddo. I'll be here."

She couldn't help but ask, "You not sleep?" before wincing. She was pretty sure there was something wrong with that sentence.

He just patted her head, smoothing out her hair with a more energized smile.

"Good night." he said.

She wouldn't have been able to sleep alone anyway.

And sleep she did.

After all, it was her go to stress relief method.

* * *

 **Author's note:** Nothing to say, just a tad bit disappointed with the lack of review. Ami I doing something wrong? Is this fic boring? I dunno.

My internship has started and I'm liking it so far. My anxiety levels are off the charts though.

Thanks for following and favoriting and thanks to **Crystal blue butterfly** for reviewing.

I've decided to keep thin in third person limited view with a few pov changes.

Ciaossu.

Edited, unbetaed: 26/03/2018


	4. Contemplate

**Chapter 4: Contemplate**

Kaien Cross sighed, and dragged his hand over his face.

Sitting beside her bed, watching the rise and fall of her chest made him realize how close he had been to losing her. The events of the day came crashing down on him and he slipped into his hunter persona to sort his thoughts out.

The memory spell on Aki had failed, that much was pretty obvious. Her reaction on waking up confirmed his hunch that she definitely remembered the attack. It was not unheard of a person to break free of the false memories, even when a senior hunter like him was the caster, but provide a shock or stimuli large enough and it will happen.

 _That_ was what worried him. What could possibly have happened in her sleep(or more precisely, in her dreams) to trigger a strong reaction like that? Also, the look in her eyes when she woke up? He did not like it one bit.

Logically, he knew incidents like the one that had happened that day were jarring enough to bring out changes in an adult, let alone a kid like her. But there was something about her reaction that made him. . . wary.

 _Suspicious._

Doubting the little sunshine of his life left a bitter taste in his mouth, but he didn't become who he was by ignoring his gut feelings. His intuitions had not failed him ever, it had always kept him safe. Kept him _alive._

So if it meant that keeping a close watch on his daughter, he would do it. He would have done it anyway.

Kaien smiled as he saw Aki scrunch up her face adorably in her sleep, bothered by the little strand of hair that had fallen over her nose. He leaned forward and carefully tucked it away. She relaxed as the offending appendage was removed and her expression turned peaceful once again.

He drew back and clenched his eyes shut; praying for one of the few times he ever did in his life for his little daughter to return back to her former self. He knew he was being selfish and he hated himself for it. But seeing her skittish self made him flinch, being reminded of the times he would rather forget.

As her breathing evened out, he threaded his fingers once more through her hair, feeling the warmth, as if to convince himself that she was indeed alive. Not quite well, but definitely alive.

That would do for the moment.

He stared at the clock as time ticked away merrily and was once again reminded of the huge pile of work waiting for him. The vacation was ending and school would open in a few days, also he had to fill out the paperwork for the Association. He needed to reach out to his contacts regarding the attack-

 _(-whoever had said that retirement was peace and quite and fun needed to be hanged-)_

\- but he couldn't bring himself to get up from beside her sleeping form.

His little princess sighed and leaned on to his hand, oozing contentment.

He just wished he could protect her for a bit longer.

The doorbell rang.

* * *

Aki waited till her new guardian was out of the door, before opening her eyes. The clock told her it was still the early hours of morning(thank god at least the system of Time was same in this world, learning it once was terrible enough) and she was feeling a little pissed. Who the hell came to visit people at the ungodly hours of dawn? She wasn't feeling especially generous after yesterday's ordeal, but had to refrain from cussing out loud in the fear of alerting her _Papa._

 _Not that he would know what she was saying._

Aki sighed and burrowed further into her cover, still feeling like she was in a trance. Decades of memories crashing into a five year old was a surefire way of inciting a massive headache, figuratively and literally. Her brain was still sorting through the dissociative feelings, cataloguing her thoughts from before and after the events. From what she could tell, her and young Aki's personally was not that much different (except, she was, well, a child and still had that feeling of wonder towards everything) so pretending like a quite girl wouldn't be much of a challenge. The language barrier she could pass off as a learning curve. She _hoped_ that her childish brain would be of some use and-

-wait ,what was the third point again?

Anyway, the immediate problem was acting like an actual child.

How the hell was she supposed to pull that off in front of a caring _parent,_ who would obviously realize that something was wrong with her? How could she surely claim that she wasn't a body-snatcher? How would she explain that she wasn't an impostor, just an unfortunate person with memories she shouldn't have had?

She tugged at her blankets, wondering over the implications of superstitions and witchcraft in her new world. Hopefully, burning at stakes weren't in vogue.

Then she bolted upright.

 _That moment she was attacked-_

 _Were those fangs portruding out of the mouth of the monster with crimson eyes? Did they. . . did they feed her-_

 **Blood**?

She swore loudly. Keeping aside the chances of numerous blood-borne diseases(once a doctor, always a doctor), only God knew what kind of stuff happened as a side-effect of drinking what might have been vampire blood.

 _Vampires._

She was getting goosebumps just thinking about them.

Aki fought down the urge to vomit. She needed to tell that to her guardian, but the fact that she couldn't predict what his reaction would be made her apprehensive. Thinking for a minute or two, she nodded to herself.

She would tell him. Parents always knew when something was wrong. It wouldn't be wise not to.

Specially not to a person who had eyes way, way older than he looked, physically.

She removed the cover and jumped down. Soft, pink carpet that had cushioned her fall the day before, met her tiny feet. She wriggled her toes, grinning at the ticklish feeling. That felt good!

Then she rolled her eyes before continuing towards the door. Seriously, at the rate she was going, acting like an actual kid wouldn't be that difficult.

The next problem appeared as she reached the door. The term "way out of her league" found a new meaning in her life. She had never thought it would be for a doorknob, though.

Looking around, she spied a small stool, the perfect size for reaching the handle, kept near her dresser. She almost skidded to it; placed her hand on her bed to steady herself and picked up the stool from beside it.

Finally successful in her mission (she could almost hear the ding, "Mission successful: Open the Door"), she tip-toed out of her room. She didn't know why she did that, but something told her stomping down the hallway would be a bad idea.

She was halfway out when she heard raised voices. She strained her ears, but was only able to catch a few words like, "NO" (clearly said in capital letters), "never" and "stop".

That was really helpful.

An ongoing argument, which she could only hear parts of and had managed to anger even her generally chill guardian? It raised a lot of questions, sending warning bells ringing inside her head. So she decided on the next best course of action.

She fled the scene to her home base.

(After all, she had watched enough shows to know that only protagonists were stupid enough to eavesdrop on conversations and _that_ was one role she refused to play. They were filled with way too much angst for her taste and their life sucked, anyway.)

She situated herself in her bed to recover her HP and mana. She would tell him as soon as the guest left, she decided.

Footsteps sounded in the hall at that moment.

 _I'm not in trouble,_ she told herself.

* * *

 **Sneak-peek:**

 _"There was something going on with Cross' daughter and he would find out exactly what."_

The next canon character will revealed next chapter. 3 guesses to who?

* * *

 **Author's note:**

I have decided that I will update at least once(if possible twice) in a month. My work hours are crazy. I've given 24 hours of duty two days already this week with no day-off plus regular hours. So, you can guess why update is less.

Anyway, this is the first story of mine to get 50+ alerts, so YAAAAAAY!

Special thanks to **LPWomer, kurochach** and **Guest** (I'm honestly a tiny bit disappointed, but worry not! If I couldn't give up on this story for 3 years, I won't now! Thank you and here's your new update!) for taking the time to review the story. Really, those reviews made me so happy, it's a highlight of my bleak existence, lol.

Anyway, any SPN fans out there? I've written an one-shot, "The First Meeting". You might wanna check it out.

Ciaossu. (I love responses :) )


	5. Lie

**Chapter 5: Lie**

Aki didn't have to wait too long till her bedroom door opened and in entered her blond guardian. At first, she didn't understand why he was staring at her with eyebrow raised. Then she peeked out from her blanket and saw that the stool she used to open the door was still sitting beside it.

She smiled sheepishly. Rookie mistake. As if, her less than calm breathing wasn't clue enough to him.

Kaien just shook his head and closed the door behind him before crossing the room. He stood beside her bed, silently asking for permission. She gave him a tiny nod and he plopped down.

"You alright?" she blurted out. Her eyes widened and she had to fight the urge to cover her mouth.

She could feel his shoulders lose a bit of tension. Eyes softening, he patted her head. "Yeah", he said. (It was a testament of his worried state that he didn't start tearing up at her concern, like he used to, her memories supplied.)

But then the tense look returned and he looked at her seriously. "Aki." He spoke slowly, as if not to startle her. She tilted her head quizzically. "I know you remember what happened today." She stiffened, but then she was engulfed in a warm hug. "It's not your fault", he murmured into her hair, his grip tightening, but never becoming painful. "Don't think for a moment that it was your fault." She didn't know why, but her eyes were getting wet (it was _all_ the fault of her childish body) and she could only nod. "But Princess, I have to ask you something." He loosened the hug and backed away, slowly. Staring straight into her eyes, he said, "There is a man sitting downstairs. You have to pretend that you don't remember anything from this afternoon." He sighed before pinching the bridge of his nose. "I know this is a lot to ask, but can you please act as if nothing happened after our ice-cream trip?"

She frowned, running all the words through her brain twice, before asking, "Not suppose remember?"

"Not supposed to remember." He corrected her absent-mindedly. "Can you do that?"

She nodded pensively. Aki wondered for a while why she was supposed to forget a whole day's event but then remembered that vampires existed. Who is to say that magic didn't? She couldn't help but ask though, "Who?"

"A very important person." Was the only reply she got.

He helped her out of the bed and assisted her in freshening up, taking as much time as was humanely possible. His reluctance to have her meet their "important" guest was made apparent by the fact that he took a total of twenty-five minutes to choose between the blue onesie and a red one.

She sifted through her memories to figure out whether there was anyone who could provoke a strong enough reaction from the normally laid-back man. An idea was slowly forming in her head, but if it was true, she wasn't really looking forward to meeting him.

But wishful thinking rarely worked and once again, she found herself being carried down the stairs. In no time she was standing in front of an impeccably dressed, slightly effeminate man in traditional garb. But that wasn't what drew her attention.

His hair colour was light violet.

She stared at his head for a whole minute before the man gave her a plastic perfect smile.

"Why, hello dear!" He said and tucked away the ornamental fan. Stretching out his hands, he continued, still smiling, "How about you come and sit with me for a moment, while your Papa prepares your breakfast?"

 _How about no, thank you?_ She snarked, internally. Outside she just hid herself behind her father's leg. Simultaneously, she felt his hand on her shoulder tighten.

"Aren't you hungry?" The totally fake man asked. "Surely last night's adventure was a little bit tiring?" His eyes were on the blond man the whole time, though.

 _Don't give it away,_ she reminded herself strongly.

Aki remembered this man. Twice he had visited their home and each time, he had managed to annoy Kaien to no ends. So much so, that the latter had hastened their Experiment Day to the days of his visit, every. Single. Time.

One couldn't exactly refuse a person's hospitality and offend them, could they?

His face on tasting the squid, jalapeno and celery mixture was priceless though.

She felt herself being pushed towards the fox of a man with a barely contained sigh, "I'll get the cornflakes."

She sent him a panicked and betrayed look, but he left without even glancing at her once. It wasn't fair. She was in a completely new world and was supposed to meet all these shady characters in one day? And the one person she was trusting to start had left her in front of the hungry predator. She clenched her fists and that honeyed voice entered her senses once more.

"Aki? You don't want to talk to me?"

 _Hell no._

She nodded hesitantly. Ignoring his offered arm, she jumped and sat on on the opposite sofa. His outward expression remained unchanged, still smiling pleasantly he asked, "So how was your birthday celebration yesterday?"

She _froze._

Birthday? Yesterday was her _birthday?_

"We went to ice-cream." She said shortly. "Dad cooked special food." She wasn't going to talk to him more than was necessary, period.

His smile turned a bit more amused at that. "Oh?", he said and sounded mock hurt, "Why wasn't I invited?"

 _Who in their right mind would invite a creep like you?_

She shrugged. "Only us."

Aki had a feeling that despite her father's request, she wasn't fooling anyone.

Kaien chose that moment to swoop in and picked her up without delay.

"Now if that is all." His voice was positively icy. "As you mentioned before, she is hungry and she absolutely dislikes soggy cereals. If you would excuse us?" It was his turn to give a fake smile.

"Of course." The weird haired man stood up gracefully, in one fluid motion. "It was a pleasant visit."

Their own expressions were enough to reflect exactly how pleasant of a visit that was.

* * *

The President stared out of his car, watching the school building disappear. His visit to his _favorite_ hunter was quite successful.

The _girl_ had always been wary of him, but the awareness and calculations he could literally see running through her mind provided him with enough to go on. Inspite of the hesitancy and the wariness, her emotions were quite an open book.

 _And since when did she call Cross, Dad?_

His lips thinned into a grim smile.

There was something going with the retired hunter's daughter and he would figure out exactly what.

After all, you need to know all the possible moves before you use a chess piece.

* * *

 **Sneak peek:**

 _She glared at him._

 _He snorted. "The feelings are mutual, brat."_

* * *

 **Author's note:** I present you the next chapter after a hard week of working 60+ hours. You have the reviewers to thank for that! They make me feel so happy after a long day of work. Now to answering them,

 **Guest 1:** Yes and thank you!

 **Guest 2:** Thanks!

 **Guest 3:** I don't know who she'll end up with right at this moment (I have plans, though) but yes, I definitely plan on doing alternate endings.

 **Guest 4:** Ohoho, your wish will be granted. ;)

 **Guest 5 and Linda:** Nope!

 **Kiiko:** I'm glad you you like the slow development. And expect lots of fluff in the future. Cross Kaien is a grossly underrated character.

 **Guest 6:** Here it is!

Who do you think the quote belongs to?

As always, thanks for reading! :)

As of now,

Reviews: 23

Favourites: 48

Follows: 63

Community: 1.

Love you guys!


	6. Introduce

**Chapter 6 : _Introduce_**

"Please forgive your foolish father for his _incompetence_! Mercy, I beg mercy!"

Aki stared blankly at the man in front of her, standing with head bowed and hands clapped together and couldn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth.

She wanted to go back to snow-gazing, she really did, but his downright pitiful expression made her pause.

What the heck did _incompetence_ even mean?

Sighing, she prepared to give up her spot by the window in the living room, her favourite one, completed with a comfy armchair and three pillows, to comfort the almost grovelling adult. Touching the cold glass one last time, she jumped down, put on her fluffy slippers and turned to him.

"What." Was the only intelligent response she could come up with.

Kaien lifted his head. Her alarm bells started ringing as she noticed the glistening quality his eyes were taking and before she could act, the waterfall started. "Papa is so, so sorry to leave his Princess with the dragon alone. Papa couldn't do anything. Papa will take any punishment. Please forgive Papa!" And she could be imagining it, but it seemed that the velocity of the waterfall of tears somehow increased.

 _Anime logic_ , her mind supplied. She had to suppress a snort.

 _Right._

And who exactly was the adult in this relation?

True, Aki had felt a little betrayed when she was left alone with the weird haired man. Not only betrayed, but somehow, that man had also sent her danger senses tingling like nothing else. Moreover, she couldn't help but think that she hadn't fooled that shrewd man into believing her, the one thing Kaien had asked her to do.

But she didn't actually blame Kaien for leaving. She remembered being told that the other man used to be his boss and quite frankly that man was intimidating. She wouldn't want to get on the bad side of her previous seniors, either.

So while she wasn't completely happy with what had happened, it wasn't like she didn't understand the situation. Besides, it seemed that Kaien had picked up on her mood and actually _apologized_ (her adult brain knew that the apology was for making her uncomfortable). It just served to skyrocket the respect she had for that man.

After all, when was the last time she had heard an adult apologize to a kid for his mistakes?

The scenario could have gone in a lot different ways, but that had to be the best one.

Meanwhile, the dramatic tears were in no way reducing and she had to crack a smile at his expression. She shuffled up to him and placed a hand on his knee.

"'Tis 'kay." She said, smiling. "We can do Experiment Day today?"

She would say that she had expected those tears to increase comically instead of stopping, because she totally knew. Yep. No one would be convincing her otherwise.

"There, there", she patted his head as he hugged her, still sobbing.

* * *

For a guy living alone, Kaien had a stunning kitchen. She wasn't being judgemental, but all the males in her previous life excluding a few of her friends were next to useless in that department. She had been to the next favourite room in her house just that morning, but it seemed that she was looking at the place in a new light.

Cream and white tones made up the whole kitchen, including the island. Darker tones in the lining of the cabinets and the chairs gave a proper contrast to the room which would have looked quite bland otherwise. Instead, the proper balance of colours, and the presence of a dark maroon fridge gave the room a warm, cozy feeling.

Even their baby pink, frilly apron matched the decor. Hers had a cute panda face, unlike Kaien, who had a smiling sunflower smack dab in the middle.

Her eyes ghosted over the cabinets (she would need to remember what held what), oven and the microwave, coming to stop over the long table in the middle which could seat six people. The lone sunflower in the vase was wilted, which Kaien himself noticed as well. As he was cleaning it up, she noticed that the sink in the rightmost corner of the room still held the cups and dishes from morning's disastrous meeting.

Placing back the empty vase back on the center of the table, the elder man rubbed his hands gleefully. "So what are we gonna make today?"

Tilting her head, Aki was about to ask him what ingredients they had in store but decided to check herself (she had, to her utter frustration, forgotten the word for _ingredient_ ). She marched to the fridge as he watched and tried to yank the door open.

Keyword, tried.

She couldn't even reach the stupid handle!

She stared helplessly at her guardian after a few jumps and glared at his fruitless endeavour of trying to stop himself from giggling at her action. He raised his hands in surrender as she pointedly glared at him and the refrigerator alternately, before finally coming to her aid.

She contemplatively stared at the provisions (at the same trying trying to recall the name of each item, she would have to get her hands on those children's books real fast) and then had a brilliant idea.

Kaien scrunched up his face at the items she pointed to but complied.

She couldn't believe that she hadn't ate that preparation yet in this world.

"But capsicum and beans together?" The apparent adult made a face.

"I'll tell you", she assured him. He didn't look very assured since the memory, err, nightmare of experimenting with chicken, chocolate sauce and waffles once was clearly her idea, too.

Her previous child self's thought processes only served to cement her strong belief that kids were the ultimate weapon of gods against humanity.

But fried rice and chilli chicken were the safest and easiest preparation. Though all she did was to instruct him and wash the vegetables and unbreakable, blunt utensils (emphasis on unbreakable and blunt), she was pretty satisfied with her efforts.

"This actually tastes good", mumbled the once staunch hater of beans.

She beamed.

* * *

Aki decide to finally drop the bomb at lunch, while munching on a piece of carrot. "So", she started, piling up the chicken bits in the corner of her plate to eat last. "Who were the monsters?"

Kaien choked.

"Mo-monsters?"

She deadpanned at his attempt to play the fool. Seriously? He was the one who asked her not to reveal anything in front of the President (now that she thought about it, what was he the President of? Definitely not a school.) and now _that_ was his response.

"You know? The one from last day?"

He gulped in a large amount of water. "Oh, _those_ monsters."

She nodded, eagerly awaiting some answers. If they were vampires, were they undead? How were they killed? (She really shouldn't have watched that show so much in her last life. What was its name again? Unnatural?) What was their weakness? Why were they out in broad daylight? Why were they attacked? She had so much to ask-

But he kept on eating, no indication whatsoever that he was going to answer her.

She cleared her throat at which he smiled innocently before she prodded again, "So?"

"So?" OK, that smile was pissing her off.

"Who. Were. They." She gritted out, her frustration rising.

A tilt of his head. "They?"

"PAPA!" She shrieked.

Both of them froze. he, because it was the first time since yesterday she had called him that. She, for the same reason, but a different cause.

It finally dawned on her that this man, this goofy blond man sitting in front of her was her _father._ That she was a child again and would have to go through the horrors of growing up once again. That she had lost everything, everything she was, everything she did, everything she had because she was _deadDeadDEAD_ and she didn't know how she would survive the long years in front of her, _gods she couldn't even die properly and this world had monsters, oh gods, they had already tried to kill her-_

A hysterical sob tore out of her throat and she was crying again and she could hear him yell, "They were vampires, vampires, please don't cry I'll tell you everything!" but right then, she couldn't care _less_ about those creatures because oh gods, she was dead and what is one more death and why was she even crying and how, just how-

A wave of calm washed over her and she lifted her head, tears still running down her face to see the serious face of Kaien, his hands glowing and strange letters (runes?) floating above her head where his palms touched her.

Her sobbing subsided slowly, being reduced to only sniffles and she could breathe again, think again. She had thought herself over such breakdowns, but apparently, death wasn't a chapter in her textbook, aka, forgettable.

There was only one upside to the whole thing: she got a cup of piping hot chocolate as a compensation.

* * *

"Please be good, it won't take me long, alright, kiddo?" He ruffled her hair and was smiling, but she could sense the slight tension in his features.

She had made him worry, again.

And made him reluctant to go to a meeting that was important and mandatory to attend.

"I'm OK." She said, not sure who she was trying convince- him or herself? "Granny will take care of me."

Granny Momo was the elderly woman in her neighbourhood and the babysitter to go to for all the parents. She loved kids but herself didn't have any, thus the neighbourhood children profiting from it. She was nice, sweet and considerate and always brought her those spicy fries she had loved so much.

"About that." He hesitated for a moment before spitting it out. "She has some work today and won't be coming. I called a friend instead." He added.

Her eyebrows scrunched up. A friend? Her Papa had friends?

He noticed the dubious look she was giving him and huffed. His answer was cut-off with the ringing of doorbell.

"There he is."

* * *

The only reason the famed hunter had agreed to watch over ( **not** babysit) Kaien's kid was the events of the last day.

It was a tumultuous time and and the synchronised attacks had left them stumped. They really didn't want another attack on Kaien's _family._ The whispered legends of the rage of the Vampire without Fangs was not merely legends. And they didn't want to confirm, thank you very much.

He definitely didn't want to witness the finally mellowed out man to revert back into the monster of myths. So, to stop that to happen, if he had to look after the snot-nosed brat for an evening, then so be it.

Momoyama, while a seasoned hunter, was not exactly in her prime. He adjusted the rifle sling once more, wondering how exactly they would explain the presence of the firearm to a child.

But the doorbell was already rung and all he could do was wait.

He deftly ignored Karen's frown and muttering of "Why don't they use blades" and made his way straight to living room to where his charge was. Ignoring the over-reactive father's enraged shout of "Hey, keep the gun outside" (like hell he was going to let it out of his attention) he appraised the girl.

His eyebrows twitched as she gave him an once over and ignored him in favour of the gun, which got an awed stare. He could sense the judgement in her eyes in that one glance he was bestowed with and was reminded again why he hated those pint-sized monsters.

He barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes at the further fussing which lasted for about fifteen minutes (Kaien was a sap. Period.), before the kid pushed him our of the house.

Like hell he could skip that meeting, all the big-shots were coming in to attend.

All was well.

Till the kid reached for his gun.

"No", he said, maneuvering it out of her reach.

The kid stared at him before tilting her head and did she just widen her eyes and wobble her lips?

"Save those tricks for that annoying git." He replied, keeping the gun well away from sticky fingers.

The immediate change in her expression was hilarious. Then his brows furrowed. At the very least, he should introduce himself.

"I'm Toga Yagari."

She was silent for a few moments, appraising him. "I'm Aki Cross." She said. "But you already know that."

 _Interesting_.

He shooed her. "Well, now that we've been introduced and all, go and do whatever you kids do." He checked out the room once, before his gaze settled on a table. "There, go and draw."

The look of utter I'm-not-impressed he got looked too funny on the face of the five year old.

"Can I see your gun?" She tried again, this time tacking on a cutesy smile. "Please?"

"No." He emphasized, relaxing on the couch and picking up a magazine, gun still safely tucked away from her.

She glared at him.

He snorted. "Feeling is mutual, kid."

Glare intensified.

Looks like this wouldn't be too boring, he thought hiding his smirk behind the cooking mag.

* * *

 **Omake #1**

The famed hunter stared as the little hellion viciously coloured what seemed like a lion with _pink_ coloured crayon.

"Hey kid," he said trying to correct her mistake because he was a generous soul. "Lions are not supposed to be pink."

He found himself on the receipt end of a Cross glare, which was frankly adorable.

"Well, hair is not supposed to be purple either." She bit out, now glaring at his head.

He looked up from her artwork, bewildered.

What? Who told her that?

 **Omake #2**

"I'll tell you all about vampires when you are older." Kaien told her.

Her eyes narrowed in determination, which he, fortunately or unfortunately for him, missed.

 **Next day:**

"Papa?" Her call never failed to melt his heart and he grinned at her.

"Yes?"

"Am I old yet?"

He squealed. His daughter was so adorable!

 **One week later:**

"Papa! I'm older!"

"No sweetie, not yet."

 **Three weeks later:**

"Papa?"

"No."

It had stopped being funny after the third time.

He was wrong. She wasn't adorable, she was manipulative as well.

He grinned. So much like him.

 _ **These omakes may or may not be canon.**_

* * *

Preview:

 _School. School? School!?_

 _What did he mean that she had to go to_ school?

* * *

 **Author's notes:**

Whoops, there you have it, a longer chapter, by my writing standards that is.

This story will delve into hunter magic so yeah.

And THANK YOU guys. Everytime I get a review, favourite or follow, I grin like a madman, never mind the place. Got quite a few weird looks from colleagues. :D

Thanks to all the guests, **CrystalBlueButterfly** and **Dazzy96** for the reviews.

 _ **Review replies:**_

 **Guest 1 and Linda:** ding ding ding BINGO! You were right! Here he is.

 **Guest 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6:** thank you! Here's the new chapter, hope you guys like it.

 **Kiiko:** some father-daughter bonding. Hope it is OK. Lol.

 **Guest 7:** I have lots of plan! Just know that they will change, a lot, for better or worse.

That's all for now.

Thanks for reading.

Anyone interested in a KHR OC fic? I'm also writing an Ace/OC one.


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